Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Seniors referring to those who are above 60. For a long time, they charged a token amount of RM$1 but that has eliminated for the new year.

One should always be wary of free health care as it tends to lead to long waits and rationing at govt clinics. Having said that, our polyclinics which are supposed to be subsidized but are more expensive than many private clinics in Malaysia also have long waiting times.

"The circular, issued by ministry's finance division secretary Wong Foong Lai, stated that the exemption was in appreciation of the contributions made by senior citizens." - The Star

In Singapore, most seniors above 60 are expected to work - following the Retirement Age Amendment Bill passed early last year, they can only have access to the bulk of their own CPF after they reach age 65. There are however one group of people with pensions and free medical care - our ministers and top civil servants. These people are also the ones who earn so much money they don't really need these schemes.

Singaporeans are always leery about such schemes implemented in Malaysia. Quality of care, for example, is an issue. However, for the many seniors whose ailments are common like high blood pressure, gout, arthritis, the access to free medication will relieve their financial burden. The PAP govt still makes the sick pay GST. They also collect GST on the amount you pay for medical insurance[Link]. The Singapore govt expenditure on health care is the lowest among developed countries as a percentage of GDP. This is not achieved by being cost-effective or efficient but by passing the rising cost of medical care to the sick and their family members. Not having a universal health care system in which everyone is covered and can go to hospital for treatment without family members having sleepless nights worrying about medical bills amplifies the effects of income inequality in a society with the largest income gap among developed countries. -------------------------------

PETALING JAYA: Senior citizens can look forward to a healthy start to the new year - they can seek outpatient treatment at government hospitals and clinics without having to fork out a single sen.

Effective yesterday, the Government abolished the token RM1 payment senior citizens needed to pay each time they sought such treatment.

The Health Ministry announced in its latest circular that patients aged 60 and above would be exempted from making any payment for outpatient treatment at government hospitals and clinics.
This means that these patients will enjoy medical consultation, check-ups and medication at no charge at all.

The circular, issued by ministry's finance division secretary Wong Foong Lai, stated that the exemption was in appreciation of the contributions made by senior citizens.
Senior citizens would only have to pay a nominal fee if they required specialist care, treatment or hospitalisation.

“If a senior citizen needs to see his doctor once a month or fortnightly, he could still make some savings. We must also bear in mind that X-rays, medication and several tests are already provided free for them,'' he told The Star.

Asked whether the ministry was considering a blanket waiver of hospital fees for the elderly, Dr Hasan said those who could not afford the hospital fees were already eligible for free medical care.
He said the latest exemption could cost the ministry an estimated RM2mil in revenue annually.
“Government hospitals and clinics receive an average of 40 million visits from patients every year and about 5% of these comprise senior citizens,'' he added.

Even Thailand's primary healthcare is free, thanks to Thaksin who are widely loath by the elites especially the Thai medical cartel.

In Mauritius, even heart surgery is free.

In fact, basic health care is free for many very poor countries.

None of these countries are bankrupt for free healthcare.

PAP in the first place, has never attempt to make healthcare affordable for Singaporeans. Its health care policies is skewed towards maximizing income for medical cartel.

We have the lowest medical school intake ratio in the whole world, so that doctors can appear dignified.

We have the lowest hospital bed density in the whole developed world because PAP's policy of rent seek via creating scarcity.

The only solution out of these selfish elites are to have Malaysia building couple of dozens hospitals in JB. And they are already doing that. PAP government is a good example whereby the special interest group held the government in captive, and implements policies which create great pains to people.

See the difference between a supposedly more corrupt/inefficient Govt Vs & a supposedly incorruptible efficient but greedy Govt ?

Across the Causeway, they having been paying better EPF dividends for their EPF savings (at least they don't boast of annual 18% returns but payout only 2.5% dividends) & provide free medical consultation including x-rays, other tests for those above 60.

Over here, they cleverly pocket the extra investment dividends from our CPF investments, split the medical consultation/treatment into different visits & charge as much fees for each consultation.

On top of that, they even pay themselves the highest political salaries in the world and say it is to prevent corruption. As if without these such sky-high salaries, LKY & his comrades come from a corrupted species.

This is because the supply of doctors and polyclinics have been below what is necessary to support our population for a very long time.

Population and immigration increased.Party Against People got build any more polyclinics or not?Why not?Because our money is "better" invested with American, European and Pakistani banks.Our Singapore children are not so deserving of such investments.

Yes, our ministers tell us to make do with crappy CPF while they enjoy taxpayers' funded pensions that start paying $179,000/ year from age 55 till death. Ministers also get high paying "retirement" positions at stat boards and GLCs after they step down from politics

LKY's pap changed our almost free hospitalisation scheme which we inherited from the British, to one where Singaporeans pay thru their noses. This was done under the pretext of restructuring when Goh Chok Tong was the Health Minister. The man heading the restructuring was non other than Khaw Boon Wan. This is one reason why the Government is so rich and the people poor. They have shifted the burden onto the shoulders of Singaporeans. They have shirk their responsibilities as a government. The amount Singaporeans spend on tuition and supplementary education is another shifting of burdens.

////You think engineer and doctor profession and training the same is it?

Any ITE or Diploma holder technician can be called engineer after working for some time and get promoted.

Can a hospital attendant or nurse be promoted to doctor in this way?

And because the university produce more engineers than doctors, it is easier to be accepted as engineering than as medical students.////

Are you a doctor? Doctors like to perpetuate myths about their occupation being extremely difficult to train, exclusively reserve for the top talent.

This are all doctors' lie. Cuba has the 2nd highest doctor density in the world, thanks to Che Guevera in smashing doctor cartel. And Cuba has better infant mortality, than USA--despite embargo that cause a shortage of hardware and medicine.

Cuba even export doctors to Venezuela supporting Hugo Chavez, and the program is hailed as a huge success by WHO. google Mission Barrio Adentro.

Why Cuba can produce so many good doctors while NUS take 100++ into Med faculties a year?

In Singapore, doctors are murderer. They watch you suffer as they create scarcity, so that they can extract rent on the most helpless poor people.

"The Singapore govt expenditure on health care is the lowest among developed countries as a percentage of GDP."

Someone should really question the out-sized expenditure on defense today. The time and threats have changed since independence. Does Singapore still need to spend more dollars on defense than its neighbors, Mr Million Dollar Ministers?

There are many things we can learn from Malaysians. They earn less, but their money goes further. They are less stressed and laid back. They have a good quality of life, as cars and houses are cheapy cheap. So they get to enjoy higher quality of life as their buck goes further. Their government is also more engaged and ensure that basic necessities are not taxed and are not subject to inflationary price hikes, many things in Malaysia is subsidized, this is the right way to go.

But in Singapore, it is everyman for himself, as for the state, they just take, take and take. Now I hear LHL is talking abt social capital. But when did PAP ever invest in the whole idea of social capital?

In November 2011, my daughter was showing asthmatic symptons when I brought her to the Polyclinic at 3.20pm. Registration was closed and I was told all queue numbers had been taken up as soon as the quota is reached. It was only 3.20 and all numbers snapped up!! we left the clinic but sat outside because it was pouring heavily. My daughter started wheezing and hyperventilating. I went back inside and told the people my daughter was having an asthmatic attack and could we do a lung ascultation (test). We were then given an emergency number to do the test and for treatment. In the event they did not treat, I suppose they could have got into deep shit if something did happen to my daughter. On that day 3 doctors attended to my daughter who was wheezing badly.

What I am getting at is the polyclinics cant handle the increase in population and we are supposed to go to the private clinics when daily quota is up.

i pity you singaporeanmalaysia is not perfect, but for outpatient our gov hospital it is really a bless to most of usmy mother, a senior citizen use the gov clinic for all her medical treatment, she have high blood pressure, some complication on her eyes and dental, all the while only rm1 per visit! now even bettermy sister, 4 years back gave birth to a healthy baby boy, no complication birth, one night stay, common room with 10 beds ward paid only rm40am mostly healthy, went to gov clinic 10 years back when am 29 years old and pay only rm1, am not poor, i am a graduate professionallast year, feb 2011, my bro in-law (he is american) getting married with my sister @ melaka. he sprained his ankle a day before the wedding, went to our ER gov hospital and he worried if the hospital bill can be claimed later in the US but he dont have to, the cost is only rm50. the doctor on call that night even told him, if he already married my sister, the bill will be only rm25ok cheers!

They have no qualms about passing 100% of the expenditure to Singaporeans but they are so reluctant to cut their own salary by a significant amount. The salary commission is pathetic - another stooge of the pap.

"Someone should really question the out-sized expenditure on defense today. The time and threats have changed since independence. Does Singapore still need to spend more dollars on defense than its neighbors, Mr Million Dollar Ministers?"

Agree with you.

Our leaders concept is wrong.

The best way to disturb Singapore is to cut off the water and food supply and not attack directly.

Transportation by helicopter to Hospitals in Sabah and Sarawak are free on call.

Calling ambulance in KL are also very cheap, the Red Crescent will accept anything you can afford.In Singapore..u know la...$$$$$

Transportation for the disabeld is heavily subsidized at RM3 regardless of distance in Klang Valley by RapidKL(called RapidKL Mobiliti) and we hear fellow sick elderly Singaporeans fork tens of $ to get a taxi to the hospital.

Fresh Malaysian doctors are also forced to serve the government for 2 years upon graduating and Malaysia can produce 4000 graduate doctors annually as the government seeks to improve the patient:doctor ratio.Government hospitals are also being upgraded on par with private sector hospitals.Government hospitals remain an exclusively Malaysian institution while medical tourism is spearheaded by the private sector.Singapore's decision to bundle the government health service into medical tourism was a big mistake.

This world is not about being no.1, but taking care of the basics first..poor Malaysians get access to subsidized public housing(RM35000 for 800 sq feet house) and subsidized necessities...factory operators in Malaysia can own cars and spend nice holidays at Tioman,Penang and their countryside eventho they cannot afford going overseas...many Singaporeans meanwhile cannot afford taking SIA ironically...basic things that PAPist fail to get a grasp on.

"If not, how could PAP got 60% votes? Cannot be all the 60% are rich what, right or not?"

Just because you have been 100% alive for the last 50 years, can you guarantee that you will be alive 100% for the next 50 years. You may be very sick but you may be alive today but you may be gone the next.

60% could be due to a lot of reasons, some are due genuine support, some are due to fear and some are due to lack of trust to something not tested (opposition), etc.

It is only human to care for the health of another human beings without thinking how he can afford it. My malaysian friend said the poor were told to pay only a small token sum to their govt clinic for as low as a dollar. This is what I called really care for their citizens. A country will not go bankcrupt because of caring for their own people but because of bad investments strategy caused by our our GIC and temasek.

I think most of the 60% who voted PAP have not read or heard of your good blog. Some because their English no good or can't read English. Or some don't surf Net for such things. Or don't have time to even read anything.

Maybe you should think of a way to reach them with your excellent writings so that great things will happen in GE 2016.

It is really silly to assume that malaysian money will run put after oil and gas runs out..are we sure oil and gas will run out in Malaysia? They have huge sea territory that remain unexplored.

Please petronas is one of the sevem sisters which are emerging oil and gas companies with an army of professionals who work hard to expand the company.petronas have multitude of businesses in property and education that will ensure its survival for manh years to come.

I think most of us cannot stomach that malaysia is way ahead in many ways, they have simpler lives and happier and we always put them down because they are what ...mostly malay..please note even the malaysian chinese have better living standards than simgaporean chinese..most even value malaysian citizenship than singaporean !!

I ink all this public debt is bull crap..malaysia is sittimg on large cash surplus in its financial sector and is a creditor nation which is rare among developing countries....you can read on a blog called 'economics malaysia http://econsmalaysia.blogspot.com/' and learn why malaysia will last longere than we think.

The problems we face in Singapore came about because we gave blind trust to the government and complete power. This is our error. That's why there is so much unhappiness in Singapore, to the point, we are the most unhappiest society in Asia according to the Reader's Digest.

I reckon Veritas was pointing to the hard fact that each Singaporean owes the PAP US$65 144 since the government has a debt of US$309 billion.

Against this backdrop, it may help the concerned citizens to be aware why Mah Bow Tan commercialised public housing in Singapore.

They were trying to recoup all the losses from Temasek Holdings through Singaporean's pockets. This is also the case why there is no universal healthcare or minimum wage in Singapore. The government could not also pay itself higher stash of million dollars as it's been in debt. The government has shifted all the risks of privatizations and deregualtions to the Singaporeans who is not prepared to accept them.

The only difference about this debt is that it is not sovereign debt. It would interest the readers to find out how much credit card debt Singaporeans owe the banks as a whole. It's in the range of a few billion dollars.

The rising cost of living has been pushed down to the Singaporeans so that the government can recoup its debt and losses in GIC Inc..

This is why your CPF has been locked out. There is no money there. It's all in digital form. In time, the minimum sum will be further raised as is the withdrawal age too.

Your are paying for the million-dollar ministers pension. Not your own.

I reckon Veritas was pointing to the hard fact that each Singaporean owes the PAP US$65 144 since the government has a debt of US$309 billion.

Against this backdrop, it may help the concerned citizens to be aware why Mah Bow Tan commercialised public housing in Singapore.

They were trying to recoup all the losses from Temasek Holdings through Singaporean's pockets. This is also the case why there is no universal healthcare or minimum wage in Singapore. The government could not also pay itself higher stash of million dollars as it's been in debt. The government has shifted all the risks of privatizations and deregualtions to the Singaporeans who is not prepared to accept them.

The only difference about this debt is that it is not sovereign debt. It would interest the readers to find out how much credit card debt Singaporeans owe the banks as a whole. It's in the range of a few billion dollars.

The rising cost of living has been pushed down to the Singaporeans so that the government can recoup its debt and losses in GIC Inc..

This is why your CPF has been locked out. There is no money there. It's all in digital form. In time, the minimum sum will be further raised as is the withdrawal age too.

Your are paying for the million-dollar ministers pension. Not your own.

But their outpatient bills got no discounts and so called rebates. You go to our clinics you see big discounts and rebates... Maybe this type of smart accounting, book keeping and hype keep our people satisfied they have got good bargains and real discounts every time. like you go to lucky plaza or sim lim square same thing heehee

Deregulation and privatisation employed by the PAP generated greater risks while the government did not make necessary adjustments in the social safety net to deal with the possible consequences. Deregulation was articulated as a job-generating measure, reducing employer obligations (and government's as well) and thus making them more inclined to offer jobs. The PAP government saw it as a risk worth taking (gambling on Singaporeans' security) in order to reinvigorate the economy (this after years of Goh's talk of regionalisation, the life sciences and biomedical industries - all which never materialise - at the end of it all, 2 gambling casinos were built). With productivity lagging, and unemployment rising along with the costs of social services for the unemployed and indigent, deregulation and privatisation (as opposed to nationalisation) offered the possibility of some improvement. Deregulation and privatisation was oversold as a remedy for the Singapore economy with the PAP government quick fix solution of opening the floodgates to foreign immigration to Singapore.

There were more jobs created (mostly going to foreigners), but often on unattrative terms with little to no security at all.

The PAP government tend promoted self-reliance, self-responsibility as a way of SHIFTING responsibility for and costs of singaporean workers' welfare from firms and government (no pension for rank and file civil servants, etc.) social programs to individuals and their families, putting the most vulnerable at risk.

thank goodness ignorant people who use wikipedia and have no knowleadge on economic studies and basic gaap analysis like you guys are a minority, if not singapore is gonna be a fail states with you guys around -_-"

What a huge bunch of losers we have here, whining about the government and its policies often with little or no logic.

I disagree with many things the PAP government does, but governing a country (however small) is no easy feat.

Since everyone here seems to be so extremely smart and perceptive of the many various ills in Singaporean society and governance today, why don't y'all spend less time talking trash on the internet, and put your effort into writing a political manifesto that you think can solve all of our problems - housing, health, defence, finance, manpower, infrastructure.

If you can come up with something that is better than the PAP's current manifesto, then publish your proposals and people will read for themselves and will judge. then you will generate more political support than just repeating mindlessly 'GE2016. Vote Opposition'.

Most of the opposition parties' manifestos are extremely shortsighted and fail to take into consideration many important factors. So y'all may say that 60% of the population are stupid and afraid of oppression and blind but I'd like to think that they actually read what the PAP and the opposition want to achieve instead of just voting for either one blindly.

Or I have an even better solution for the dissatisfied - unhappy here, move to Malaysia la! Cheap healthcare, housing, ministers that get paid 'normally' - If Singapore is really so bad, why don't you just migrate. Won't take much money to move to Malaysia right.

It's not practical for a Singaporean to move to Malaysia. You will not get the subsidised rate of housing, healthcare, etc that a Malaysian gets.

Perhaps, the 60% could be those who are the fore-fathers of Singapore who remembered the "good things" that PAP does in the past; however, in the next election, the younger population coming on board to vote may not connect to. Secondly, the 60% may perhaps be from voters working in the ministries, stat boards and GLCs which is a huge population group - though voting is a fair system, but some might fear ...

This is one of the best post I've ever seen, you can include some more ideas in the same theme. I'm still waiting for some interesting thoughts from your side in the next post. One thing I just want to say is that your blog is so perfect!